SO SIMPLE: Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle went 0-9 with a 6.86 ERA in 11 starts from April 20 to June 11. Since then he is 7-0 with a 2.88 ERA in nine starts. How did he turn it around? He switched hands.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: With fullback Casey Urlacher back with the Bears, now brother Brian Urlacher can wrestle him on the team bus while Bears coach Dick Jauron shouts, "Don't make me pull this thing over and come back there."

ALGEBRA 101: If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets each took 14 hours to get to Japan for Saturday's NFL exhibition game, how fast were the Jets flying and how fast were those Bucs rowing?

FOREIGN LANDS: This game is supposed to broaden the appeal of American football to international fans. In recent years, NFL teams went to Japan, Spain, Germany, Mexico, England, Ireland and New Jersey.

PLAY HARD: The New York Jets have three plays designed just for Yoshinobu Imoto, a Japanese receiver on temporary loan to the NFL team. His assignment on each play: Run up to Warren Sapp and stomp on his toes.

THIS TIME IT COUNTS: Chicago has five players in the 2003 Major League Soccer All-Star Game. If their side wins, it's only fair that Chicago gets home-field advantage for baseball's World Series

OFF THE AIR: Kobe Bryant's lawyers asked the judge to reconsider allowing court hearings to be broadcast on TV. Wonder if they could do the same for Clippers games.

LOYAL READER: Here's a magical series of events. Atlanta's Marcus Giles hit four doubles in Sunday's game. On Monday, RedEye suggested next time he mix a homer in there too. Giles homered twice in Monday night's game. Freaky.

DUMB FAN'S LOGIC: In 173 games with the Cubs, Bill Mueller hit 13 homers. In one game for the Red Sox the other night, Mueller hit two grand slams. At that pace, he'll hit 344 homers over the next 172 games.

DISCLAIMER: In no way am I calling any Cubs fans "dumb." Unless you're that guy on the "L" the other night with the Cubs hat and the T-shirt that said, "Go ugly early." Then yes, I am.

PRICE-LESS: New Alabama football coach Mike Shula showed up to talk to reporters at the SEC media day. And no, he did not jump out of a cake.

POINTS OF VIEW: Ex-Pacer Brad Miller is now a King and ex-King Scot Pollard is now a Pacer. "The fans here [in Indianapolis] are kind of going, 'This is ridiculous,' but they don't really know because they haven't seen me play a lot," Pollard said. Then again, maybe they have.